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Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has come under fire from lawmakers from both parties and veterans groups following revelations of faked reports to minimize waiting times for medical appointments for veterans.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley joined a growing number of Democratic lawmakers calling for the ouster of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in the wake of an inspector general's report confirming the use of phony records to hide long patient waiting times at VA facilities.

"The reports of long wait times and cover ups at the VA are 100 percent unacceptable and there needs to be accountability," Merkley said in a statement. "After yesterday's investigator general report, it is clear there are systemic problems at the VA and we need new leadership."

Merkley's call for Shinseki's ouster came as his Republican opponent, Monica Wehby, has been trying to make the Veterans Administration scandal an issue in her Senate race against Merkley.

Wehby had said on Saturday in a press release that Shinseki should resign. And on Thursday, she issued a statement saying that Merkley was slow in reacting.

"Only when it became politically expedient did Merkley call for Secretary Shinseki's resignation," she said in the statement. "That's not leadership and it's what is wrong with Washington, D.C."

What Merkley did say was that "anybody involved in that separate bookkeeping and that kind of pretend provision of services should be fired, wherever that leads to."

Merkley spokeswoman Courtney Warner Crowell said that Merkley had not yet reviewed the inspector general's report -- which was released Wednesday morning -- when he talked to reporters.

UPDATE: Wehby has also sent out a fundraising letter that focuses on the VA scandal and criticizes Merkley. The Huffington Post and MSNBC both ran articles questioning the fundraising tactic. The Huffington Post quotes Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla. and chair of the House Veterans Committee, as saying that lawmakers shouldn't turn the issue into a "political football."